A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared; he sat
and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through
that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had
gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But
it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any
moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body,
which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around
with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting
cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening
were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so
that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to
go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as
strong as what we could have been.